Savvy, grounded, hungry and articulate: Maddison really is something special and appears destined for greatness

At 2pm last Monday, the doorbell sounded. I wasn’t in, instead sat at the library working on both a dissertation and an article for this very website. My housemate was, however, and he knew exactly what had arrived.

In a rush of blood, the week before, he had impetuously decided to bid for James Maddison’s signed and match-worn shirt; a garment adorned with a poppy in the name of Remembrance Sunday and one that probably still possessed the odour of a young man who gives nothing other than his all whenever he pulls it on.

My housemate’s excitement was if anything bizarrely palpable, resembling a young child arriving at his first match. However, in a late frenzy and following the emergence of some unaffordable prices, he lost what had unfolded into a fierce bidding war.

But he wasn’t finished. Instead, he sought to obtain Maddison’s match-issued shirt, an item of yellow and green cloth that had not been worn but had nevertheless been signed by our young starlet. It would function as a belated birthday present from his parents, he informed me. Regardless, a few minutes and £150 later he had got what he wanted. Maddison’s shirt was his.

A few days later, he answered that doorbell, receiving his beloved gift and bombarding me with a barrage of snapchats and text messages. While I would struggle to justify investing such a sum on a football shirt, I could understand his elation. It was only a few days since Maddison had conjured up that magic at Griffin Park, nutmegging Brentford’s Ryan Woods before sumptuously curling into the top corner, perhaps intoxicating my friend with that moment of genius.

Maddison is a special talent. Those present at the iPro at the weekend would have had the privilege of watching his most recent performance as City’s protagonist, jinking and turning round players in that idiosyncratic manner that has marked him out as one of the Championship’s top prospects.

As we have all become so acutely aware, Maddison relentlessly creates. For those of us at the Riverside, Portman Road, Ashton Gate or Griffin Park, Maddison – usually spectacularly – scores. However, what renders him one of my favourite City players throughout the past decade is not necessarily football related whatsoever.

Well, sort of. What makes Maddison so likeable is not his ability to score screamers, to humiliate defenders or to execute killer passes. It is not even how aesthetically-pleasing and fluent he is to watch. Instead, it is his Machiavellian ability to wind up his opponents and other sets of fans, simultaneously serving to enhance his reputation in Norfolk as a player we collectively adore.

Obviously the two go hand in hand. Of course, Maddison would not possess this humorous, provocative and devious ability to engender such resentment from his opponents without his superior technical ability. But it is the way in which he has appropriated this ability as a means of casting himself as the pantomime villain; winning fouls, running down the clock and winding up those on the terraces in a manner he evidently thrives off.

At Bramall Lane, his time-wasting antics in the second-half were preceded by an animated jump into the South Yorkshire air in front of the home fans. Maddison hadn’t even scored the goal himself, yet took a strangely endearing pleasure from prompting anger from what surely has to be one of the most deplorable sets of fans in the country.

At Portman Road, he followed his unerring strike with a nonchalant ‘shh’ sign to those behind the goal. At Griffin Park, he once again celebrated purposefully in front of the home fans. All incidents, dare I say it, that successfully served to intensify my love of a man who is a mere week and half older than me.

And then there was the iPro. That terrific away point in the East Midlands, a day that City fans may reflect back on nostalgically after that polished second-half performance, and one that Derby supporters may instead interpret as a game characterised by Maddison’s duplicity and their own side’s inability to create. At full-time, they were fuming.

Once again, Maddison was superb. And, once again, his performance went further than his mere footballing performance. He successfully manufactured contact with Scott Carson to win us a – albeit irrelevant – first-half penalty, infuriating the 26,000 home fans present and prompting a series of deafening boos whenever he touched the ball.

When his moment finally came 45 minutes later, he held his nerve from the spot. Then there was that celebration, fist-pumping in front of those sat in the North Stand and intensifying their aversion towards our now pervasively resented talisman.

Put simply, Maddison gets it. He understands what fans love to see; a magical player who graces the pitch with confidence yet a subtle touch of both attitude and arrogance. He thrives off the way in which he is so capable of frustrating his opponents; in his post-match interview he simply laughed off oppositions’ increasing tendency to resort to tactics more suited to a rugby field. More rudimentarily, he loves to play football.

His talents extend further than merely what he does on the pitch. Indeed, Maddison is also both intelligent and articulate. He spoke so well with Chris Goreham following his antics on Saturday afternoon, appearing so grounded and grateful for the opportunity Daniel Farke has provided him.

His subsequent tweets were also telling, delineating the way in which he felt an obligation to prove to his followers – and the Derby County community – that he did not dive. Naturally, his tweet prompted some hostile responses. He won’t care. His openness and transparency with fans was refreshing to see.

Maddison will go a long way. His plethora of attributes including not only his footballing prowess but also his attitude, awareness, intelligence and eloquence, which will only serve to combine into a potent synthesis that will propel his career path even further upwards.

As he made explicit on Saturday evening by referring to Norwich as a ‘platform’, he will not be with us for much longer. We must treasure his brilliance while it lasts. Wherever our artful young magician goes next, at least my mate will always have his shirt.

Reader Interactions

Comments

Whoa there. He is good and I love him, but he is certainly not going to be great. At 21 you would not be playing for us if you were destined for greatness. Bentley was 2 years younger than him when we loaned him in the prem and he looked very tidy indeed. Get a grip of your teenage senses Will.

Maddison showing those levels of passion/antics in the prem will be far from greatly received as well and defenders will look to wedge him firmly in his place with an iron fist.

Talk about an inferiority complex, telling a young player he can leave whenever he wants as he is too good for us. This weird love in over a good, not great, player is just more embarrassment on us as fans.

I remember watching Maddison for the first time when we played Coventry in a pre-season friendly at the start of the 15-16 season and was impressed by what I witnessed. He then chose to go to Aberdeen (my boyhood club) as opposed to being loaned out to a League 1 side south of the border and WHO can forget THAT free kick to beat Rangers. He returned to CR in January and Derek McInnes was hoping he would return, but Maddison chose instead to stay at CR and fight for his place, but there was a stumbling block in the shape of Naismith in his preferred position (even though he was not playing well and AN still wouldn’t drop him) and so he had to bide his time. I was fortunate enough to get to most of the Under 23 games last winter/spring where his talent and skills were on display and he won 2 penalties against Dinamo Zagreb in a 6-0 demolition. Shortly after that game, AN was sacked and he was promoted to the first team squad, but still had Pritchard ahead of him, so never actually made the starting 11 last season.
Pre-season however Pritchard suffered a serious injury, so Farke chose to give Maddison his chance and how he has repaid the trust he was shown and the way he ran to celebrate with Farke after scoring against Preston spoke volumes.
I think I saw something yesterday that he now has 10 goals with 5 assists, coupled with VERY impressive stats for his passing accuracy and almost every aspect of his game and in a few short weeks, he seems to be building a very successful partnership with Leitner which bodes well for the remainder of this season.
You’re entitled to your opinion Jeff, but when Maddison does leave for the PL, he WILL become one of its star players, though he may well have to endure kicks/trips etc by seasoned defenders, but he WILL do it and I just hope we insert a sizeable ‘sell-on clause’ when he leaves.

I think only time will tell if he is a good or great player but if we can sell him for say £25m then he will have been one of our greatest players just how much money he brings in.
I take your point about him not necessarily being great – he is in only his first full season in the championship, and 1 season does not make a great player (look at Jacob Murphy / Bradley Johnson), however he does seem to have something about him that makes me think he will be great.
Not sure I agree with your comments around the age though , some players develop at different rates. Take Alexis Sanchez for example, when he was Madisons age he was sent out on loan at River Plate unable to get into the first team at his club. Les Ferdinand was 23 before he even played a top tier game, Didier Drogda was 25, Ian Wright 26, more recently Mahrez & Vardy were late bloomers – the list goes on. Obviously we dont know how Madison will develop, and I doubt he will be as good as any of those i mention above but the fact he is 21 and playing for norwich is irrelevant as to how good he will be.

Whilst there is an element of truth in what you say Jeff (Alli is only 6 months older and look at what he has achieved at roughly the same age!) he is a great talent and I think like many others that he is on the path to greatness. He isn’t there yet and must prove himself at higher levels before we consider him more than a Norwich great or a great championship player. But I do think he’ll get there. Not all great players are great and in PL top teams at 21 and under, look at Vardy as a prime example. Madders has time, has the right attitude and will play for a top 6 side in the PL. England? I’m not so convinced, Mainly because with Alli only 6 months older I’m not sure he will ever be better than him. and they will be in direct competition.
I’m also not sure Willy is to far out (Oo-er) as a club we must start the bidding that high, his ability and potential would be worth half that if he were not British, but with PL teams also quotered to include British players in their squad, British players with his ability are like gold dust, we must not sell up short of the inflated market value.

Its his attitude as much as anything that impressed me. His willingness to go on loan for a different experience, his desire to return last season to force his way into first team plans & again in pre-season.. He seems to understand the deeper nature of a football club & does all the right things to connect with fans. It’s unusual for players to be in a situation where the vast majority of fans will send their best wishes when moving on to a bigger club – he’s earned that right.

Jeff: don’t be daft. Madders is now the best player EVER to grace the shirt. Even better than Martin Peters. Like other posters on here, I have NO doubt he will soon show this in the prem and for England.

He is young and seemingly well grounded by his family , his agent looks to be caring very carefully after the lad’s interests. I am sure he knows the pitfalls that have ruined many a promising career. The next move will be the most important of his young career, go to the wrong club and it could be curtains. He doesn’t need a WBA, Stoke or Southampton as they have the habit of selling upcoming talent, Maddison skills and talent is already well known.
I would like to see him bypass Chelsea and Man city , who buy talent to stop others from getting, it has got to be a club that will use him, groom him keep his feet firmly on the ground. The current set up at Spurs looks good at the moment, but that could change over night. but we have Edwards for a reason. Not saying Maddison is anything like that but that does highlight something.

How long Wenger has at Arsenal is anybody guess, but he has a good record with using young talent and would slip into a well oiled system . As for Klopp at Anfield how long will he reign ? again as=anyone guess., but he seems to me to be a manager who like to splash the cash on over sea players.

My hope is he gives City next season to see where we are heading, another season of doing what he is doing won’t do him or the club any harm. But that is a pipe dream , so I hope Arsenal come into the reckoning

Maddjson is a very good player in an experimental side that is trying very hard to improve its league position and yes when the times come for him to leave city will receive a very good fee but I think Coventry has a 20% sell on above the original £3m.

The club who ever he goes too must be the right fit, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man U and City to me would be a waste he would just drop back into the u23, just look st how many young players go to the bigger clubs and disappear one eg is Powell now rebuilding his career at Wigan after wasted years at Man U.

As hinted at in both his Radio Norfolk and NCFC interview with Webber, the Pritchard sale on eased the pressure now. He repeatedly alluded to a big summer hole. As a result it would be a miracle to keep Madders, even if the player isn’t pressuring for a move.

The other tidbit he let slip was that they didn’t have any other offers to turn down. So it does seem, despite what the tabloids said, Madders isn’t as in-demand as we’d think.

He’s a good player, too good for this league, but he’s also unproven at PL level. There are very few teams willing to pay 30M for a Championship player. I think 20M to a newly promoted Wolves is more likely.

Watching MOTD again beause of course I am. The first goal made by an overlapping Byram making space for an advancing Tettey, that's right Tettey to take the ball wide, cross to win the corner. Hard to pick an MoM but Tettey was immense after so little football #ncfc

Disclaimer: The information on this website consists of personal opinions. Whilst we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that the information contained on these Web pages is accurate and correct at the time of writing we do not accept any liability whatsover for any loss or damage caused by reliance on this information.

We do not accept any responsibility for information contained in other websites to which this site links. We strongly advise users to check any information before acting or relying on it.